Aaron Jones — Week 4: Twenty Carries and the Fourth Down

12 to 10, Vikings, 10 oh eight left against the Dolphins, fourth and one at the Miami 30. Minnesota went for it, and Aaron Jones went up the middle for three yards to the 27. +1.9 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 5.4 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it, the biggest gain on any Minnesota run. On the next snap he caught an 11-yarder to the 16. The drive stalled inside the 20, and Will Reichard's 29-yard field goal made it 15 to 10.

The line: 20 carries, 94 yards, no touchdown, five first downs, eight of the 20 successful, −0.9 expected points on the carries; eight targets, four catches, 34 yards, two first downs. The long runs went 15, 19 14, the last on the first snap of the final drive. The best catch was 15 yards on third and two in the second quarter, on the drive to a 50-yard field goal. On third and eight at the Miami 14 in the fourth, he caught a three-yarder and the ball came loose and went out of bounds, so Minnesota kept it and kicked.

Jones had 20 of Minnesota's 28 rushes, Demond Claiborne three, and his eight targets were second to T.J. Hockenson's 13.

Back in June the preview made no call on Jones: a year-10 back framed as the passing-down half of a shared backfield, with his early touch count as the thing that would announce a phase-out. Four games: 72 carries, 297 yards, one touchdown, 15 targets, nine catches. 24 touches on Sunday is the opposite of a phase-out.

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_Data via nflverse._